CHAPTER X 



Growing The Giant Victorias 



The Victorias or giant water-lilies are 

 natives of the warmer portions of South 

 America, where they thrive in lagoons and 

 in the quieter portions of rivers. Their 

 gigantic leaves, often measuring more than 

 five feet across, as well as the immense flower, 

 fully a foot across, naturally produced a 

 profound impression upon the European 

 botanist Haenke who, in 1801, first reported 

 their discovery. Numerous eatly attempts 

 to introduce the plant into cultivation in the 

 Old World were unsuccessful; seeds (sent 

 both dry, and packed in wet clay) failed to 

 germinate, and young plants did not survive 

 long enough to produce flowers. It was not 

 until about fifty years after the Victoria 

 became known that the first flowering plants 



were grown from seed in Europe. At the 



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